Category: William Shakespeare

On the stage and beyond

William Shakespeare stands as the greatest writer in English literature, even as centuries pass and trends change. It is amazing to recall that this giant of a writer was active in his career only for a quarter century. He wrote 37 plays, 154 sonnets and two epic poems. He wrote about deep universal human emotions like love, ambition and envy in words that reverberated through the centuries, long after his audiences dispersed.

His plays have been translated into all major living languages in the world today. His attention was on creating interesting characters. His plays were emotionally intense and insightful. People laughed at his protagonist, fools and villains. To the Elizabethans of the 16th century, Shakespeare opened a world of passionate romance, hot blooded, rivalry, cold blooded betrayal and jealousy.

Shakespeare made huge contribution to the evolution of the English language too. His plays standardized the language and provided it with new words and phrases. It is said that about 1,700 words were first used in English by Shakespeare!

Shakespeare’s Plays

Shakespeare’s plays have been classified in many ways. The traditional classification falls into four categories: the comedies, the histories, the tragedies and the romances. Today, a comedy means an entertaining laugh-riot movie. However, the word ‘comedy’ had a very different meaning in the Elizabethan times. A comedy was a light-hearted happy-ending play in which young men and women marry each other promising a successful life thereafter.

A Comedy of Errors, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, As You Like It are some of Shakespeare’s comedies. “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them” – Twelfth Night In Shakespeare’s tragedies, the heroes undergo certain difficult situations, all the while suffering from internal conflicts. They all have a ‘tragic flaw’ that ultimately leads them to their own destruction. Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Hamlet, Othello are some of Shakespeare’s tragedies.

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” – Hamlet There are ten history plays by Shakespeare. They are Henry VI, parts one, two and three, Richard III, Richard II and Henry IV, Parts one and two, Henry V, King John and Henry VIII. Shakespeare’s history plays center around actual events and monarchs from Britain’s history. The Gain and loss of power and the divine rights of kings are the main theme of these plays.

The romances were previously grouped with comedies. However, today, these plays are considered more mature plays of Shakespeare as he wrote them all after the success of his tragedies. His romances are Pericles: Prince of Tyre, Cymbeline and The Tempest.

Shakespeare contribution to language

Shakespeare is a colossal figure when it comes to his contribution to literature. As is expected from any writer of such magnitude, his contribution to language is huge. Many words that we use today have been in some ways or other were modifies or used with a distinct meaning by Shakespeare. He has invented over 1,700 words that we commonly use. Shakespeare achieve this by changing nouns into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never used together, adding prefixes and suffixes and devising words wholly original. Several phrases that are still very much a part of our language ad conversation such as ‘full circle’, ‘a sorry sight’, ‘strange bedfellow’ and ‘seen better days’ are coined by Shakespeare.

In Merchant of Venice, he used the word ‘laughable’ for the first times. It was Shakespeare, who used the word ‘majestic’ for the first time in his play ‘The tempest’. Shakespeare introduce the word ‘radiance’ in King Lear. The word was not in use formerly in English language as he modified the Latin word ‘radiantem’ meaning ‘beaming’. There are many others such as ‘hurry’ in Henry VI Part I, and ‘generous’ in Hamlet. ‘Critical’ was first used in Othello. In his comedy, the Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare used the word ‘undress’ for the first time.

Considering the fact that English as a language was only evolving into its modern form, much scope existed for the kind of innovations Shakespeare made. Words were not sufficiently available for the bard in his creative ventures. Therefore, he had to invent!

Shakespeare on the big screen: Multiple Roles

Shakespeare worked as an actor, writer and co-owner of a drama company called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men – later known as the King’s Men.

Thousands of films have taken inspiration from Shakespeare. Akira Kurosawa, renowned Japanese filmmaker, directed Throne of Blood, which is an adaptation of Macbeth. His Ran, directed in 1985, is inspired by King Lear. Laurence Olivier is probably the most famous filmmaker and actor who has successfully adapted Shakespeare’s plays. His Henry V, Hamlet and Richard III are popular films.

Shakespeare has wielded his influence in India too. Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘Omkara’, ‘Maqbool’ and ‘Haider’ have been both popular and critical successes. “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts…” – As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7.

REFERENCES

1. Bradley, A. C. (1991), Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth, London: Penguin, ISBN 0-14-053019-3.
2. Cercignani, Fausto (1981), Shakespeare’s Works and Elizabethan Pronunciation, Oxford: University Press (Clarendon Press).
3. Edwards, Phillip (1958), ‘Shakespeare’s Romances: 1900–1957’, in Nicoll, Allardyce, Shakespeare Survey 11, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-21500-5, OCLC 15880120 (http:/ / www. worldcat. org/ oclc/ 15880120).
4. Lee, Sidney (1900), Shakespeare’s Life and Work, London: Smith Elder & Co..
5. Tillyard, E M W.: Shakespeare‟s Problem Plays and Shakespeare‟s History Plays: Chatto and Windus, London: 1961

Introduction

Good evening and a special welcome to our Mayor Tom Tate and schools of the Gold Coast. Tonight will be a very special night and I would like to thank you all for attending. We are here to showcase dramatic performances that reflect the contemporary nature of the famous English writer, William Shakespeare. Scholars still remain to study Shakespeare and his work because of his ability to relate to human nature through the situations each character experiences in his plays.

Shakespeare wrote stories based on his view of life, but even though these were written a long time ago, they are still very relatable to modern world society. This is one of the unique characteristics about Shakespeare’s plays and what people encounter can still be related to the experiences of the characters in his plays. Shakespeare had a profound understanding of human beings, how and what we think, what we feel, how and why we act. His work may be written in an extravagant language to understand, although hundreds of years later people can receive key life lessons from reading or watching his plays. Shakespeare is important because of his profound understanding of human nature which remains the same throughout time.

In his pieces, he demonstrates the striking similarities between humans, regardless of the time or period highlighted. One has only to look at some of the main characters in his plays to see the worst and the best in human nature. Shakespeare’s plays reveal all aspects of human nature, as a result, they remain timeless reminders of the highs humans experience, and the depths to which we can go to when we are overly ambitious. A common style of Shakespeare’s texts that is often referred to in modern society is a “Shakespearean tragedy.” These “tragedy” plays are based around a common structure; there’s the tragic hero, who’s character is cursed by fate and possesses a devastating fatal flaw. There’s an external conflict, the battle between good and evil as well as an internal plot that the tragic hero faces shelf struggle against his fatal flaw. The ending of a “tragedy” results in the resolution of the conflict but at the cost of death for the tragic hero. Shakespeare often includes an element of the supernatural e.g. ghosts, witchcraft and magic.

Body

Shakespearean texts often evolved around a central theme, the most common being: appearance versus reality, change, order and disorder and conflict. However, in one of Shakespeare’s texts, “Hamlet,” the story revolves around a less commonly known theme of corruption. The general plot of the play is the tragic hero plotting to take revenge on his father`s death at the hand of his uncle in order to prove himself a prestigious son. From the beginning of the play, the citizens of Elsinore start to realise that something isn’t right. As spoken by one of the guards, Marcellus “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (1,4,80). In Shakespeare’s era, people thought the health of a nation was connected to the king leading it. The country has been run in an abnormal way since the new king had been running the country, when corruption leaks into a government, it dramatically effects the stability and order in a country. Corruption often leads to the downfall of countries because the leader desires personal gain (power, money and/or entitlements) instead of the intention to improve the country’s security and the wellbeing of citizens.

Shakespeare often implements the supernatural into his tragedy plays. The ghost of the play has a huge influence on the wellbeing of Prince Hamlet and the rest of the royal family. Through the conversation that Hamlet has with the ghost (his murdered father), it reveals “the serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown” (1,5,38-39). This provides proof of the corruption that lies throughout Denmark was not a myth and that King Claudius gained the throne through corrupt practises for his own greed and selfishness. To have a villain leading Denmark only spreads corruption and it was only a matter of time before the results were showing throughout the royal family. As a result of the king’s death, Hamlet has promised the ghost to revenge the murder. Throughout the play, Hamlet continuously plots and changes his plan for the murder and needs to be one hundred percent certain that Claudius was the culprit. He is presented with an excellent opportunity to conduct the revenge but refuses as he believes there will be a better time. As a result of his procrastination, he becomes extremely frustrated with himself and his inability to act. It drives him mad and he becomes rash and unpredictable as a result of his contemplative nature.

Claudius’ lust for power and wealth affected many people, including his nephew. But it also affected him personally later in the play. The following extract demonstrates his need for forgiveness but his continuous greed for power.

“Oh my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;

It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t,

My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,

Or pardoned being down? Then I’ll look up,

My fault is past. But oh, what form of prayer

Can serve my turn? ‘Forgive me my foul murder’?

That cannot be, since I am still possessed,

Of those effects for which I did the murder,

My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.

May one be pardoned and retain th’offence?

In the corrupted currents of this world

Offence’s gilded hand may shove by justice,

And oft ‘tis seen the wicked prize itself

Buys out the law. But ‘tis not so above.” (3, 3, lines: 36-37, 40, 50-60)

This extract out of act 3, scene 3 is the time when Claudius is realising what he has done, although he says his sin is so great that it renders him incapable of praying. He admits before God that he has committed the ‘primal eldest curse’ by carrying out his brother’s murder. He admits that his remorse is unforgivable since he is unwilling to give up the thrown to Prince Hamlet. Instead, he begs that some assistance might bow his knees and soften his heart so that he can ask for forgiveness.

Closing Paragraph

In today’s modern world, political corruption lies everywhere. It affects the citizens of the country and their quality of life because someone wants to run a country “their way” instead of thinking what’s best for everyone. A great example of political corruption is the elected president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez in 1998. He was elected on three main promises: convening a Constituent Assembly to write a new constitution and improve the state, fighting poverty and social exclusion, and eliminating corruption. Due to lies and the fight to gain more power and wealth, today, the nation is locked in an intense struggle between the defenders of democracy and a president intent on becoming a dictator for life. Poverty and social exclusion remain as prominent as before, while the levels of government corruption are higher than ever. The political corruption in Venezuela is very similar to Hamlet, as both leaders use unethical means to get into positions of power for their own personal gain instead of improving the lives of their constituents.

“To be or not to be, that is the question.” You may have heard this phrase many times in your life But did you know that it came from one of the most well-known writers in the world. Shakespeare wrote this line in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ back in 1595/96. In year 9 you study Shakespeare as it’s in the course outline, but most people still don’t understand why we study it and how it is worth all the effort. Shakespeare has a great influence on our society even after all these years, The things he wrote about are still relevant to problems and issues we face now and the language helped us use metaphors and puns. Shakespeare has a great influence on our society as it is with expressions like ‘Wild goose chase; Love is blind; you’ve got to be cruel to be kind; knock knock, whos there?

Too much of a good thing; good riddance.’ These are just some of the words we have taken from Shakespeare’s plays but approximately 1% of the words that we speak these days were actually invented by him. Lots of movies and TV shows are remade and have clear references to his work. A dean’s professor of English and professor of theater at USC, Bruce Smith explained: “Shakespeare reveals a different face to different cultures and different people at different times.” Some of the readers can identify with the characters such as Hamlet’s anguish, Ophelia’s distress, the enduring love between Romeo and Juliet. One movie that was also based on a Shakespearean play is “She’s the Man” which is based on the Twelfth Night and was released in 2006. Other movies like ’10 things I hate about you’ and ‘WestSide Story’ are also influenced by the plays of Shakespeare such as ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Taming of the Shrew’

Even though Shakespeare wrote his plays in the 1600s the things that he wrote about are still relevant to today’s problems and issues like class, division, racism, sexuality, intolerance, the role and status of women, crime, war, death, and disease. His confidence to write these plays have influenced other writers and movie directors to produce works that have modern-day issues. In a midsummers nights dream Hermia’s father states that ‘I beg the ancient privilege of Athens, As she is mine, I may dispose of her: Which shall be either to this gentleman Or to her death, according to our law’ Midsummer night’s dream (I,1-26) In these lines he simply says that Hermia is mine and that if she does not follow my orders than she will be put to death, as the law states that they could decree death for children that disobeyed their parents.

The Athenian law states that the ownership goes straight to the father and Hermia’s mother doesn’t seem to be around, as well as all the other characters having no mothers either. The language that Shakespeare wrote wasn’t just put in the characters mouths but they were meant to stay with viewers long after the play as he wasn’t shy with his metaphors and puns such as when he describes Juliet he doesn’t just say she is beautiful he says that ‘she sparkles like jewels against an ear.’, In ‘Two gentlemen of Verona’ he plays with the words ‘tide’ and ‘tied’ Panthino: Away, ass! You’ll lose the tide if you tarry any longer. Launce: It is no matter if the tied were lost; for it is the unkindest tied that ever any man tied. Panthino: What’s the unkindest tide? Launce: Why, he that’s tied here, Crab, my dog.

In this essay I will be writing a comparative analysis of two sonnets, the first being William Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 20’ and also ‘Sonnet 116’ whilst referring to two essays in ‘An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory’ about Love and Queer. Both sonnets centre around the theme of love, with ‘Sonnet 116’ focusing on Shakespeare’s personal thoughts on love and ‘Sonnet 20’ is aimed towards the Fair Youth that Shakespeare is infatuated with, a common topic in the majority of his sonnets.

The poems chosen are both in the forms of sonnets, a 14 line poem that can often associated with love. ‘Sonnet 20’ and ‘Sonnet 116’ both follow the form of a classic Shakespearean sonnet; consisting of three quatrains and a couplet with a rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG. For example Rhian Williams elaborates on the use of a sonnet by saying ‘It is linked especially with love poetry and many influential sequences’ (R.Williams, 2017:93), meaning the analysis of sonnets ties into the essay of love and queer fittingly. However ‘Sonnet 20’ differs from ‘116’ in the sense it has an all feminine rhyme scheme, by doing so Shakespeare has chosen unstressed words to convey a softness and lightheartedness as he is talking about love. The feminine rhyme also is used to reinforce the Fair Youth’s feminine like features despite being man – for example “A women’s face with Nature’s own hand painted, Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion” (W.Shakespeare, 2018:272), the Fair Youth is described with “a women’s face” and the rhymes “painted” and “passion” conveys Shakespeare’s feelings towards this man.

The theme that is similar in both sonnets is love. ‘Sonnet 116’ is different from Shakespeare’s other sonnets in the sense that it does not directly refer to being in love a specific person, instead detailing the definition of what love actually is to Shakespeare himself, this is supported by Mario Aquilina “Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 may be read as laying down the law of love in a way that goes beyond the relationship between poet and addressee that often structures love lyrics” (M. Aquilina, 2011:82). In the first quatrain Shakespeare explores the idea that, to him, love is not changeable “Love is not love, Which alters when it alteration finds” (W.Shakespeare, 2018:279) presenting this idea of the perfect ideal of what “Love” is. In the second and third he discusses what love is “an ever fixed mark … and is never shaken” (W.Shakespeare, 2018:279) and how “Love’s not Time’s fool” (W.Shakespeare, 2018:279). These quotes centre around “time” and how love will “never” be lost to it, reflecting his ever-long connection to it through out his life. Whilst referring to the essay on Love a point is made “Love and language are indissociably linked. Love may be silent, but Shakespeare still needs words to make that point” (B&R, 2016:239), this relates to both sonnets as Shakespeare manipulates language to create a story of what love is to him and just how persistent it is, through the use of different sonnets like ‘Sonnet 116’ and ‘Sonnet 20’, making it more personal as his raw emotions are laid out on the page.

‘Sonnet 20’ shows a different interpretation of love from that of ‘Sonnet 116’ – instead choosing to bring in the factors of beauty and physical attraction. Shakespeare heavily focuses on the beauty of the Fair Youth in this sonnet, the essay on love adds some more insight by saying “People in love in Shakespeare are more or less constantly concerned with the role and importance of the eye – with the visual beauty of the beloved, with seeing and being seen”(B&R, 2016:242). This argument can be applied to Shakespeare himself as he too focuses on external beauty. For example lines seven and eight of ‘Sonnet 20’ “A man in hue, all hues in his controlling, much steals men’s eyes and women’s souls amazeth” (W.Shakespeare, 2018:272) shows that the feminine beauty of this Fair Youth both “steals men’s eyes”, as if giving men no choice but to feel attraction towards him, and amazes women “women’s souls amazeth” since he possesses such feminine beauty that they too long to possess. A second argument made during the essay of love “When we talk about being in love, and about falling in love, we are talking about passionate erotic feelings for another person” (B&R, 2016:246) which also links directly to ‘Sonnet 20’ as the reader feels Shakespeare’s frustration towards the Fair Youth’s gender as “she prick’d thee out for women’s pleasure” (W.Shakespeare, 2018:272), meaning mother nature made him a man in order to pleasure women, not men due to his sexual parts. Shakespeare’s sexual desire towards the Fair Youth is made very clear, so referring to the point made earlier he is therefore in love.

Another essay that can be used to analyse the sonnets would be the essay on queer. ‘Sonnet 20’ is one of Shakespeare’s most famously known for addressing homosexuality and his fascination towards the male Fair Youth he is in love with. An argument made in the essay indicates “Shakespeare’s writing questions what it means to be a man or a woman, and what it means, as a man and as a woman, to desire men and to desire women” (B&R, 2016:268) this links to Sonnet 20 very specifically as the Fair Youth is portrayed as feminine, and Shakespeare is attracted to him regardless. The essay then backs this up by saying “Sonnet 20 is a key text in debates surrounding his representations of sexuality and sexual identity” (B&R, 2016:268). Shakespeare refers to the Fair Youth as “master-mistress” on line 2, which for his time would’ve been a very big deal, a man calling another man something like that. Bruce Smith comments on by saying “for the poet, his readers, and presumably for the young man, issues of love and and sexuality ‘reach a crisis’” showing Shakespeare is perhaps exploring his sexuality and projecting this onto others. (B.Smith, 1994:249). To compare the two sonnets ‘Sonnet 116’ can be seen as a universal love sonnet, and by referring to love as a whole it doesn’t isolate homosexuality and further fortifies the ideology that queer emotions should be normalised in Shakespeare’s sentiment.

The essay on ‘Queer’ features Foucalt’s argument “the apparently unequivocal distinction between being homosexual or being straight – the sense that you are one or the other, and the sense that who you are is defined by that distinction” (B&R, 2016:266) which acts as a counterpoint to Shakespeare’s sonnets as Shakespeare does not view homosexuality or heterosexuality as being as simple as black or white. For example in ‘Sonnet 20’ “And for a woman wert thou first created … and by addition me of thee defeated” (W.Shakespeare, 2018:272) challenges Foucalt’s ideology directly by indicating that the Fair Youth was created for the pleasure of both man and woman indiscriminately. This is also shown in ‘Sonnet 116’ on line 7 “It is the star to every wandering bark” (W.Shakespeare, 2018:272) which also challenges Foucalt’s argument as love can guide any “wandering bark” wether it be man or woman, the sonnet is open to interpretation and does not fall into the simple lines of black or white like Foucalt’s beliefs on love.

In conclusion I chose to write a comparative analysis on Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 116’ and ‘Sonnet 20’ whilst referring to the arguments of the essays ‘Love’ and ‘Queer’ in ‘An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory’. The two sonnets exhibit many topics that relate to both essays that have been explored – love is very prevalent throughout both the sonnets, whilst the queer perspective has been presented both directly and indirectly. With ‘Sonnet 116’ exploring what love actually is and ‘Sonnet 20’ exploring homosexual love specifically, both sonnets compliment the essays conclusion and understanding of love as an emotion and queerness in conjunction to that.However, the queer essay also provides a potential argument against Shakespeare’s beliefs through the ideology of Foucalt and his unwavering opinion that a homosexual and heterosexual attraction cannot be exhibited by one single person, but as Shakespeare proves repeatedly in both of his works that just isn’t the case for him. Overall, it is clear that throughout Shakespeare’s entire life he based a vast majority of his sonnets on love (both homosexual and heterosexual) and it’s intense grasp on him. His infatuation supports the stakes and robustness of the essays time and time again, and proves it to be a reliable means for comparative analysis between his sonnets.

Bibliography

1. Shakespeare,William, ‘Sonnet 20’ and ‘Sonnet 116’. Ferguson, Kendall and Salter. 2018. The Norton Anthology of Poetry, Sixth Edition (W.W. Norton and Company)
2. Rhian Williams. 2017. The Poetry Toolkit: The essential guide to studying poetry, Second Edition (Bloomsbury)
3. Mario Aquilina. 2011. Let Me (Not) Read You’: Countersigning Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, Vol 1, Issue 2 (University of Ploiesti)
4. Andrew Bennett & Nicholas Royle. 2016. An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, Fifth Edition (Routledge, New York)
5. Bruce Smith. 1994. Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare’s England: A Cultural Poetics (University of Chicago, Chicago)

Titus Andronicus is a play written by William Shakespeare. It takes place in early Romanian times and tells the tragic story of revenge and murder. The play begins with Titus Andronicus, army general, and his sons, Martius, Mutius, Lucius, and Quintus battling against Tamora, Ruler of the Goths, and her 3 sons, Alarbus, Chironi, and Demetrius. Tamora is defeated and she and her sons are taken captive and brought back to Rome with Andronicus. Once in Rome Tamora’s eldest son Alarbus is decided to be made a human sacrifice for all of Andronicus sons who died in the battle, and he is executed. From that moment on Tamora develops a hatred for Andronicus and vows to take revenge on him. All the while two brothers, Saturninus and Bossianus, fight to be made emperor. After much persuasion from Saturninus, Andronicus declares Saturninus as the new emperor, and to show his appreciation Saturninus asks Andronicus’s daughter, Lavinia, to marry him. However, Bossianus becomes angered by this and announces that he was promised that Lavinia should be his to marry. So Bossianus kidnapped Lavinia, and her two brothers Lucius and Marcus defend them leaving because they know she really was promised to him to marry. Titus declares this act as treason and in a fit of outrage kills his own son Marcus for helping the couple escape. Titus promises Saturninus that Lavinia will be returned to him but Saturninus says he doesn’t believe him and pronounces Tamora as his new wife, which she accepts. All the while Aaron, the moor, secretly is in love with Tamora, and one day while Aaron attempts to make a move on Tamora, Bossianus, and Lavinia catch them, after sneaking back into Rome.

The couple plans to use the secret against Tamora, However, Tamora has different plans. She stabs and kills Bossianus and then gives her sons, Chiron and Marcus, Laviana to do as they please with her. The two boys rape Laviana as well as cut her tounge and hands-off, replacing her hands with metal rods, and then leave her to be found. Titus’s sons eventually find the body of Bossianus and are framed by Tamora as the murders. A grief-stricken Saturnius sentence the son to death, like Titus, begs for their life to be speared insisting that they were not responsible for the crime. Aaron, only seeking to cause trouble tells Titus that the emperor has decided his severed hand will be enough to stop Titus’s sons from being executed, and without hesitation, Titus chops off his hand. Though

Aaron lied and the two sons were killed and their heads were sent to the king. Titus plans to take revenge on Saturninus, Aaron, and Tamora but struggles with coping with all the problems he’s been facing and begins to act strangely. Everyone thinks he’s gone crazy, and a scared and desperate Lucius tries to bargain with his crazy father suggesting they shoot letters to the gods, asking them for guidance. Later that day Lavinia is able to figure out if she draws in the dirt she can communicate and tells what happened to her and who did it. Titus traps and kills Tamora’s two sons and makes pie out of them. He serves the pie at a dinner he holds, with Tamora, Saturninus, Laviana, and Lucius. Where he kills Laviana to end her suffering. He then reveals what really is in the pies and kills Tamora. In response, Saturninus kills Titus, and Lucius kills Saturninus. Lucius is decided to be the new emperor and she sentences Aaron to be buried and starved as his first action to repay his father.

William Shakespeare is considered the most influential Elizabethan playwright: he was just a magician of the English language, as described by the critics who wrote “Reinventing Shakespeare”. His plays echo the political situation, problems, social antagonism: but although this reflects his age, he also was able to express “the new theatricality of English life”. Shakespeare was not of an age, but for all time – said Ben Jonson, Shakespeare’s contemporary and a friend shortly after his death. He showed certain patterns of human behaviour, but went far beyond political and social situation. On the other hand, Shakespeare was shrewd enough to be able to see the situation; he flattered the Queen and later the King, only to get away with some of the sharp criticism of the system.

Shakespeare is an interesting ‘celebrity’ to analyze. He and his works are a subject of different approaches: feminist, Freudian, biographical, historical etc. The targets of the research or analysis are many: from the artist’s childhood, history background, his relationships with people and romantic relationships. He had and is still being put in books, poems and films. Film Shakespeare in Love, for example, offers an interesting insight of Shakespeare’s personal (love) life: although the director’s and the writer’s imagination ran freely and incorporated many not very likely and realistic events in the artwork, the viewer still gets a clearer image about the author, his relationships with women and his view on love.

Shakespeare in Love is a romantic comedy that introduces us to varies layers of love through psychologically diverse characters. The film is pushing the spectator into a romantic atmosphere; with music, poetic lines and acting itself. The spectators may find themselves in those depictions of love(rs), depending on their views on love as a concept. The actress Gwyneth Paltrow (Viola) dives into an emotionally unstable character: an inexperienced and naive young woman, who had known love from poems and plays rather than her own experience. Viola lives in abundance; her life is privileged and safe. She interprets the literary works too much on a personal level and creates unrealistic illusions and expectations and she tends to follow the emotions blindly. She “feeds on the shadows of perfection“: “I will have poetry in my life, and adventure. And love, love above all. /… love that overthrows life. Unbiddable, ungovernable, like a riot in the heart /…/“ Her love to William is a realization of the love concepts that were shaped in her mind; concepts, taken from the world of poetry. She is expecting love by the book.

Shakespeare (the character), on the other hand, has quite a diverse love life: besides his wife he has had relationships with Black Sue, Fat Phoebe, Rosaline, Burbage’s seamstress and Aphrodite (as listed by the apothecary in the film). He is accustomed to the biological rush of hormones that make him a ‘prisoner of love’, an addict; love affairs are his fuel for writing and living. Without love he is experiencing a creativity, if not existential crisis. Viola is just another ‘tool of addiction’ that creates a flow of creativity and for him, the break-up is, though heart-breaking, not the end of the world. As long as he keeps falling in love, his literary works will continue to live.

While Shakespeare considers love as a phenomenon binding both body and spirit, Rosaline’s definition of love lies exclusively in a physical desire; she is a lover to Shakespeare, Richard Burbage and Mr. Tilney at the same time. Although she has had less love affairs than Shakespeare, she is viewed more negatively; the product (or the cause) of these affairs is not love as a complex emotion, but purely lust and benefit. “Burbage has my keeping … but you have my heart!“ Her relationships do not include intense feelings of loving and being loved; when William confesses he has lost the gift, her answer is simple –“you left it in my bed! Come look for it again.“ In contrary to Shakespeare she is not using this ‘love’ as a power to create, but only to satisfy her sexual cravings.

Lord Wessex is another character that exploits love as a benefit. To him, love is a title; marriage is a status and financial opportunity. In his eyes, Viola is seen as a property rather than an object of affection and actual love. She has desired body features, she has a status (a virgin) and she is available. The marriage is a tactical escape from financial problems and includes satisfying physical desire.

Audience in Shakespeare’s time had much more developed perception of sound: since few of the common people were literate they focused more on the sound (going even further in history, when the prayers were meant be heard, read only by the priest): they were able to hear the rhythm of the plays much easier, for example iambic pentameter. Nowadays the mentioned metric line in theatre seems redundant, while it actually contributes the melody, the importance to character (Shakespeare used it only for the most important characters), a clue when to enter for the next actor by the one already performing, and additional meanings (in Romeo and Juliet, the two lovers ‘share’ the iambic pentameter, as two perfect pieces fitting together). The rhythm in poetry and plays is quite challenging for the English students nowadays and the amount of time devoted to practice at recognizing different patterns (metric feet) indicates how important it really is.

According to to Shakespeare, life and theatre often get mixed: they are very much connected. Theatre reflects life as read from this famous line – it mirrors life to nature. A play within the play is an interesting tactic that gives Shakespeare a chance to direct the actors and criticize them. In Hamlet, for example, Hamlet gives advice to the actors on how to act. His view is that they should exert a conscious self-control over their speech and their manner of acting rather than being emotionally carried away by what they play; not to exaggerate. He stresses the importance of theatre: according to him, the theatre keeps the record of the time. “Good my lord, will you see the players well bestowed? Do you hear, let them be well used; for they are the abstract and brief chronicles of the time: after your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live.”

His idea is to find evidence through the response of Claudius and Gertrude: “The play ‘s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king”. “Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently: for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness.”

The actors should not cry out their line, the gestures need to be controlled and not show emotions. “O, it offends me to the soul, to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags”

This is referring to stereotypical actors who exaggerate, all dressed up in wigs: the audience does not believe them. It is not true to life, meaning the theatre then does not mirror life. That was precisely Shakespeare’s view: mimesis, theatre as an imitation of life. “/…/ to split the ears of the groundlings, who, for the most part, are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb shows and noise: I would have such a fellow whipped for o’erdoing Termagant; it out-Herods Herod: pray you avoid it.”

Groundlings are people who stand just beneath the stage. They suffer, their ears suffer: they are capable of dumb shows (gestures without speaking) or screaming – this is not true to life. “It out-herods Herod, avoid it.”

In this first address he tells them to balance; in the second part: “Be not too tame neither; but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance, that you o’erstep not the modesty of nature: for anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own image, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now, this overdone, or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of the which one must in your allowance, o’erweigh a whole theatre of others.”

The purpose is mirroring, reflecting life; “O, there be players that I have seen play,–and heard others praise, and that highly,–not to speak it profanely, that, neither having the accent of Christians, nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of nature’s journeymen had made men, and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably.”

He uses a word imitation: bad actors, typical Elizabethan actors strutted and bellowed, they exaggerated and therefore failed to imitate. In As You Like It: Shakespeare once again discusses the relationship between art and life with a character called Jacques uttering these famous lines: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages. ” > from childhood to adulthood, entrance – they are born; exit – death; each has many parts to play

Back to Shakespeare and women in his works: Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia is in a yo-yo situation, drifting further with every encounter. Ophelia asks about the status of their relationship. She tells him that he made it clear that he felt something for her; she expected to be married to him.

Hamlet: Ha, ha! are you honest? – Ophelia: My lord? Hamlet: Are you fair? (the same as in Othello where he accuses Desdemona). He concludes by saying that she is beautiful but she should not allow her beauty to change people around her.

“Hamlet: Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness: this was sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once.”

Ophelia: ”Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.”

Hamlet: “You should not have believ’d me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it: I loved you not.”

He is disgusted with the situation; because of your beauty you are also morally frail and because of that I love you no more – here he even uses past tense, denying what he has just said.

“Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest; but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me: I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious; with more offences at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves, all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. Where’s your father?”

Here Hamlet is accused of misogyny and Ophelia of being morally frail – this is based on his feeling that she is spying on him. He’s not only critical of people, sinners, but also of himself; father is an important figure for Ophelia and he made her spy. The nunnery can also mean the brothel.

He uses a cynical, mocking tone, he teases her by exaggerating. He shows a deal of self-loathing. He asks Ophelia of the whereabouts of her father, he is haunted by the idea that he is watched constantly. “Ophelia: O, help him, you sweet heavens!”

Ophelia has this impression that he is mad because he repeats his statement: Get thee to a nunnery. “Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go; and quickly too. Farewell.”

Hamlet suggests that she should marry a fool. “Ophelia: O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown! The courtier’s, scholar’s, soldier’s, eye, tongue, sword, the expectancy and rose of the fair state, the glass of fashion and the mould of form, the observ’d of all observers,–quite, quite down!” She laments that this noble mind now mad. He was the prince, the heir, he was like a role-model, a soldier, a scholar, a courtier, he was good as fencing, good at speaking – the perfect renaissance men and people followed his fashion.

Conclusion

If Venetian husband cheats on his wife, he is not judged very harshly. This is all the anticipation of a catastrophe and as far as the position of gender is concerned in the marriage. For men, adultery is sport, for women it is something serious and punishable. The speech of Ophelia is very consistent in terms of verse; Hamlet, however, not always. He is emotional, stressed, his verse is not always consistently used.

Abstract

William Shakespeare is known to be the father and author of present day English, most individuals on this planet don’t donate credit or know the impacts or comes about William has cleared out for nowadays. The Countless sum of expressions and words he made is as well colossal to not matter, he utilized many other words within the English dialect from other dialects and cultures , he was too the clench hand individual to compose down present day therapeutic issues and clutters found. To include on, Shakespeare was composing amid one of the foremost lexically imaginative time periods, so he Affectively made a difference help within the alter of utilizing “thee” to utilize “you” when tending to another individual. Not tending to around dialect particularly, Williams composing has moreover had gigantic influences on a few exceptionally incredible individuals, Abraham Lincoln being one of them. Shakespeare plunged his pen into other perspectives of life, changing the way we utilize dialect until the end of time. He was know to be a artist, playwriter, and on-screen character. The most prominent essayist of all time.ons, composing, exceptionally, perspectives

Early Life

William Shakespeare was born in Strandford-upon-avon. His date of birth was never 100 percent affirmed and was never known due to that. He was baptized at 26 April 1564. His birth was set to 23 april 1564. That day was moreover the devour day of benefactor holy person of Britain. William was the as it were survivor from among his kin. William had 2 other kin, a sister and a brother. A see at his work compared to the standard educational modules offer assistance deliver prove and verification to that he gone to a language structure English school. His school Ruler Edward VI at Stratford was found on the church road. It was a quarter a mile absent from his domestic and a couple of yards from where his father sat at the town committee. It was free for all male people. William gone to school when he was 7 a long time ancient in 1571. The school had classes on a regular but Sunday and half a day on Thursday through out the year. School would start at 6am till 5 pm within the afternoon(relatively a long school day compared to todays schools). They would have 2 hours free during these many hours.

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet has a place to a convention of awful sentiments extending back to relic. The plot is based on an Italian story interpreted into verse as The Tragical History of Romeos and Juliet by Arthur Brooke in 1562 and retold in composition in Royal residence of Delight by William Painter in 1567. Shakespeare borrowed intensely from both but extended the plot by creating a number of supporting characters, especially Mercutio and Paris. Accepted to have been composed between 1591 and 1595, the play was to begin with distributed in a quarto adaptation in 1597. The content of the primary quarto form was of destitute quality, in any case, and afterward editions corrected the content to comply more closely with Shakespeare’s original. Shakespeare’s utilize of his idyllic emotional structure (particularly impacts such as exchanging between comedy and catastrophe to increase pressure, his development of minor characters, and his utilize of sub-plots to decorate the story) has been lauded as an early sign of his emotional skill. The play credits distinctive lovely shapes to distinctive characters, in some cases changing the shape as the character creates. Romeo, for case, develops more capable at the piece over the course of the play. Romeo and Juliet has been adjusted various times for organize, film, melodic, and musical drama venues.

Play writing

Shakespeare’s works drop into three fundamental categories: the plays, the pieces, and the lyrics. The plays are assist isolated into three (now and then four) categories: the comedies, the histories, the tragedies, and the sentiments. I will provide you a few data on the subdivisions of the plays.

The Comedies

Eighteen of Shakespeare’s plays are as a rule among the comedies: Comedy of Mistakes, Subduing of the Vixen, The Two Men of their word of Verona, Love’s Works Misplaced, The Storm, The Winter’s Story, Cymbeline, Pericles, All’s Well that End’s Well, Degree for Degree, Troilus and Cressida (now and then classified as a catastrophe), Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Much Ado Around Nothing, The Vendor of Venice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Two Respectable Family (which numerous accept isn’t a work composed completely by Shakespeare). The comedies have common components: they include significant others and they nearly continuously have a cheerful finishing.

The Tragedies

Ten plays are considered tragedies: Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Lord Lear, Villa, Othello, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, and Timon of Athens. All the tragedies have a legend (or legend) that must overcome exterior and interior obstacles. Habitually, the saint includes a ‘tragic flaw’ that leads to his extraordinary pulverization. A incredible case is Macbeth, whose savage want for the position of sovereignty overpowers him and causes his pulverization.

The Histories

Shakespeare composed ten history plays: Parts 1, 2, and 3 of Henry VI, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, Henry V, Richard II, Richard III, Ruler John, and Henry VIII. He gotten most of his data and plot thoughts from one book, Holinshed’s Chronicles of Britain, Scotland, and Ireland. The central topic of the history plays is the pick up and misfortune of control, and, in specific, the subject of divine right. Shakespeare spends a part of time talking about what makes a great, shrewd, and effective ruler in his history plays.

The Romances

In some cases Shakespeare’s late comedies are gathered together as sentiments. These are Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Story, and The Whirlwind, and (seldom, The Two Respectable Family). These plays, at times, appear more like tragedies than comedies, but they have the standard ‘happy ending’. Numerous accept that the sentiments are Shakespeare’s best plays and speak to the artist at his most develop organize of composing.

Conclusion

William Shakespeare verifiably made a colossal affect on the world. To this day, Shakespeare still oversees to impact individuals, youthful and ancient, through his works. His career traversed 28 a long time, and in that time he overseen to type in 37 plays, 154 pieces, two long account sonnets, and a couple of other verses. Shakespeare moreover made a difference make the writing we know nowadays by combining classical and medieval writing. Moreover, Shakespeare affected theater by emphasizing scholarly gadgets and combining classes. He moreover included generally 3,000 words to the English dialect. To this day, the topics of his works are still pertinent. In spite of the fact that William Shakespeare has not been lively for numerous centuries, he still takes off behind an eternal legacy.

References

1. http://devinmendezapeuro.weebly.com/conclusion.html
2. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/faq/playsfaq.html
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet